Chapter 507 - 500: Body Freedom

Du Youqian was in no hurry, despite being unable to locate his opponent for the moment.

He had just weathered two waves of fierce attacks unscathed, without revealing the slightest opening. This had clearly surprised his opponent, granting him a precious moment to catch his breath and regroup.

Even a single breath was enough for him to calmly activate his Divine Ability: Body Freedom.

"Huh?" A voice sounded from a corner of the palace, having apparently discovered the profound nature of this Divine Ability. Visually, Du Youqian remained perfectly still, but under the probe of Divine Sense, he was appearing randomly all over the palace.

’What kind of Divine Ability is this?’

Du Youqian’s Jinhuan flew up, not striking toward the source of the voice, but toward the palace exit.

The opponent was playing a simple trick, and of course, Du Youqian wouldn’t fall for it.

CLANG! A slender hand with skin like fine jade, gently holding an oil-paper umbrella, blocked Jinhuan.

The surface of the oil-paper umbrella, made of some unknown material, rang out with the resonant clang of metal and jade.

Jinhuan retreated. The oil-paper umbrella opened, revealing a beautiful face veiled in light gauze. Eyes as bright as morning stars gave Du Youqian a deep look.

The next moment, the figure of a female Divine Being in a complex, classical-style long dress appeared behind the woman. Her form was graceful, her beautiful eyes scanning her surroundings. With a gentle wave of her fair hand, an illusory river instantly materialized within the palace.

The river surged, and countless splashes of water flew up, transforming into peach-colored blossoms.

The flowers bloomed and then just as quickly scattered into a sky full of petals, the faint blossoms blanketing nearly every inch of the palace.

A cold smile played on Du Youqian’s lips.

’Trying to break my Body Freedom Divine Ability with this?’

’How naive.’

Body Freedom was a Divine Ability that combined the Cosmic System and the Cosmic System. It was the culmination, summary, and sublimation of the two hundred years of comprehension Du Youqian had gained in this life as a Reincarnation Cultivator. It couldn’t be broken so easily.

Under the rain of petals, Du Youqian’s figure remained as steady as a mountain. And yet, in the woman’s Divine Sense, he continued to appear randomly all over the palace. The rain of petals had no effect on him whatsoever.

The woman’s mouth fell open in surprise, her eyes filled with shock and horror.

She knew just how powerful this Divine Ability, cast with the help of her Dharma Aspect, was. It was practically her ultimate killing move.

The moment a single petal touched an enemy, all the others would instantly swarm in and engulf them.

A Golden Core Cultivator would have their bones dissolved and soul annihilated, their life force completely extinguished, in less than a breath.

Even a Nascent Soul Master who had advanced through Body Refining could only hold on for a little longer.

But no matter how powerful a Divine Ability was, it had to actually hit the enemy to be effective.

Before today, she had never worried about her Divine Ability missing its target.

If it couldn’t hit anyone, it was no better than a fireworks display.

After all, her Divine Ability was an area-of-effect attack; as long as someone was within its range, they shouldn’t have been able to escape.

’But this opponent...’

’What in the world is he using to avoid every single petal?’

Naturally, Du Youqian wasn’t about to explain his Divine Ability to his enemy. He wouldn’t tell her that his comprehension of the Body Freedom Divine Ability was based on the "uncertainty principle."

A Divine Ability formed from the mysteries of both the Cosmic and Cosmic Systems.

No one could simultaneously perceive both his position and the temporal node at which he occupied that position.

In other words, when he activated the Body Freedom Divine Ability, if someone confirmed his position, it would inevitably be his position from the previous moment or the next moment—never his current one.

And if an enemy had some familiarity with the Cosmic System and could grasp his "present moment," they would be utterly unable to pinpoint his location within that moment.

’Well,’ Du Youqian estimated, ’the above two principles would likely only hold true against those at my level, or those whose Cultivation isn’t too far beyond my own.’

He should be able to hold on for a while against Divinity Transformation experts and ordinary Void Step True Monarchs.

But if he encountered a Void Step Cultivator who specialized in the Cosmic System or the Cosmic System, or faced a Harmonization Great Power, his Divine Ability would probably be broken in short order.

However, such a powerful Divine Ability was not without its weaknesses.

Its weakness was its immense consumption of energy.

Du Youqian couldn’t afford to drag this out. Seizing the moment while his opponent was stunned and entertaining thoughts of retreat, he sent his sword Jinhuan slashing out once more.

This was no longer a probing attack. Since his opponent had revealed an opening, he would naturally seize the opportunity to unleash a killing blow.

Jinhuan was imbued with the Annihilating Sword Intent—the aspect of the Blood Slaughter Sword Intent he understood most deeply—as it slashed toward the graceful woman.

The woman came to her senses and recognized the danger of this strike. She instantly leaped backward.

By the time she landed from that leap, her figure had split into eighteen copies, like eighteen wisps of light smoke, all darting off in different directions.

This was her Divine Ability. All eighteen clones were fake, yet all eighteen were also real!

One figure was heading directly for the main palace gate behind her.

Of the other seventeen figures, some leaped toward Du Youqian with their oil-paper umbrellas closed, as if to use them as swords to pierce his throat. Others opened their umbrellas to shield the attacking figures. And still others simply strolled through the rain of petals, beautiful and lonely.

Du Youqian ignored all of them. Jinhuan simply pursued the figure fleeing toward the palace gate.

A smile appeared on the lips of all eighteen figures at the same time.

The figure fleeing the palace was just an ordinary clone. Her Nascent Soul was leaping between several of the other clones and had now closed to within ten feet of Du Youqian.

Jinhuan struck the figure running for the exit.

The other seventeen figures stopped simultaneously. The tip of an oil-paper umbrella was less than an inch from Du Youqian’s throat.

All eighteen figures trembled, and like colorful soap bubbles popping in the sun, seventeen of them vanished.

Only one remained—the figure that had been attacking from the side, holding an oil-paper umbrella. She struggled to lift her head, her beautiful eyes filled with the aura of death. Her pale lips moved. "Such a sharp sword. What Sword Intent is this?"

Du Youqian beckoned with his hand, and Jinhuan flew back, dancing joyfully in his palm.

"The Blood Slaughter Sword, the Annihilating Sword Intent." The woman’s life force was already severed, so Du Youqian didn’t mind satisfying her final thirst for knowledge before she died.

"The Blood Slaughter Sword?"

This beautiful woman was likely from a Major Sect; her Body Technique and the way she circulated her Cultivation Technique had hints of the Red Lotus Sect’s style.

But she was too young, after all, and seemed completely unfamiliar with the Blood Slaughter Sword, a name that had been legendary ten thousand years ago.

She was still trying to process the name, but there was no time left.

Her life force was extinguished. All that remained was one last lingering attachment, but she no longer had the strength to even speak.

Du Youqian said, "I held back. Your soul can go on to be reincarnated."

When the Annihilating Sword Intent killed, it would also annihilate the True Spirit, leaving not a single trace in the world.

When Du Youqian said he had held back, he wasn’t lying.

If he hadn’t held back, this unnamed but clearly powerful woman wouldn’t even have had the chance to speak her last words.

Her devastatingly beautiful face was now covered by a pallor of death as her body collapsed limply to the ground.

A dim, translucent Nascent Soul emerged from her body and quickly shattered.

From within the Nascent Soul, a soul invisible to the naked eye emerged. It lingered for a moment, then quickly departed the palace, off to reincarnate who knows where.

Du Youqian didn’t waste time on sighs or sentiment. After looting the body, he didn’t even spare a glance for his spoils, instead seizing the moment to meditate and recover his energy.

The entire exchange had lasted only a few flicks of a finger—a matter of a few dozen seconds.

But the scheming and the deployment of Divine Abilities had been extremely draining on both their Magical Power and Spirit.

After meditating for a moment, Du Youqian turned and walked toward the palace exit. Reaching the entrance, he prepared to collapse the palace with a casual strike to bury the beautiful woman’s body.

Suddenly, he stopped, looking back into the palace with a puzzled expression.

’This woman... what was she doing in this palace?’

’Could she have been looking for an Inheritance, too?’

’Did she find it?’

’Why did she ambush me?’

The answer quickly surfaced in Du Youqian’s mind—she probably hadn’t found it yet, but she was fairly certain an Inheritance was here.

That’s why she ambushed him. To kill him and then continue searching the palace.

Which brought up the question: where was the Inheritance?